Every independent house here has a way onto the roof, and it is the least maintained opening in the building. It is used a few times a month, it is fully exposed to weather on one side, and it is usually the thing that has seized when somebody needs to get up there in a hurry.
Why a roof door seizes
A door that is used occasionally and exposed on one face gets the worst of both: the mechanism sits unused while the weather works on it.
Hinges rust, locks stiffen and a timber door swells and shrinks through the year with nobody noticing.
So it is worth operating it once a month whether you need the roof or not, which keeps everything moving. Where one has already seized, we free and service it rather than replace it — these doors are usually sound and simply neglected.
A roof door has to open from both sides
The failure that matters is a roof door that can be closed but not reopened, with somebody on the roof.
So the lock arrangement should always allow it to be opened from the roof side without a key.
We check that specifically when we service one, and where a door has been fitted with a lock that does not, we change it. It costs very little and it is the one detail on this door that is worth more than everything else about it.
Weather at the threshold
Rain driven against a roof door collects at its threshold, and water standing there rots a timber bottom rail and corrodes a metal one from below.
So the threshold detail matters more here than on any other door in the house.
A raised weather bar and a drainage path in front of it keeps water off the door, and a drip detail on the leaf keeps it from running down onto the threshold. Neither is expensive and both are commonly missing, which is why so many of these doors fail at the bottom.
How the job works
- Tell us about the jobSend a few photos, rough sizes and what you need. Use WhatsApp or the form. For a repair, a short video of the door moving helps a lot.
- We call you back in about 2 minutesWe confirm what you need and a time to visit. Where we can, we give you a rough price on the call.
- We come and measureWe measure the opening and check the walls, floor and ceiling around it. Anything made to size is made to these measurements, so they must be right.
- You get a written priceIt lists each item, with GST as its own line. If anything about the job changes, we tell you before we go ahead.
- We fit itYou approve the price and pay the advance. Our own team fits the work, checks that every door and window opens and closes properly, and clears up. Most jobs are done in 3 to 4 days.
